Smoke Roses
by RobinRocks
Summary: Despite his reputation for noticing very little, Ryo HAS noticed that Dee hasn’t been acting quite himself today. Aside from ignoring his partner, he’s actually doing some work. The answer is, as always, simpler than it seems… DeexRyo, obviously...


Well, as is becoming a somewhat usual practice now, here is me once again making one of my brief ventures out of the _Teen Titans_ fandom to stick some random one-shot up in a completely different section; and, as usual, I will almost certainly sod off again afterwards and you'll never hear from me again in this section.

First it was _Sherlock Holmes_. Then it was _Constantine_. Now it's _FAKE_.

So basically, don't worry if you really think this one-shot sucks. It's my first, and most probably my last for the _FAKE_ fandom…

Just some things I want you to please forgive before I begin; like the title. You'll see why it is called such, but misinterpreted it could literally mean stealing Berkeley Rose's cigarette stash ("Smoke Rose's…" heh heh)… Although I don't think he even smokes. Oh well… Oh, and don't go off on me for the exaggerated language. I'm British, not American, so I'm not actually sure realistically how many times you would use the word "man" in any single utterance. I think the _FAKE_ translation does go kinda overboard, but I'm really not sure…

Dedicated to my co-writer Narroch06; and partially blamed on her too.

And no doubt you were kinda _expecting_ this, huh? I have been squealing about nothing but _FAKE_ for over a week now…

Set somewhere/anywhere between after Volume 3 and before Volume 7. So that's BEFORE the sex - mwa ha, if you came on here hoping for another DeexRyo lemon, think again...

Smoke Roses

"How long have you been doing it?"

"Hm?"

Dee looked up quizzically, his gaze settling on Ryo, who was sitting across the desk from him with the contents of about four casefiles spread out on his side of it.

"How long have I been doing _what_?"

"That." Ryo pointed to the cigarette sticking out of the corner of the other man's mouth.

"Smoking?"

"Yeah."

Dee frowned.

"Why'd you ask that?"

Ryo shrugged.

"Just… wondering, you know?"

"Uh-huh. You're not gonna lecture me on how bad it is again, are you? You know I hate you treating me like Bikky…"

"I _wasn't_," Ryo replied defensively. "And Bikky doesn't _smoke_."

Dee looked down again wordlessly; Ryo had been half-expecting him to mutter something like "_Not yet_…", but he didn't say a word.

Still watching him, Ryo noted that Dee hadn't actually seemed all that amused by the question; his regular amiable, flippant intonement had been missing from his response.

And he actually hadn't _answered_ it, either.

Dee often accused him of not noticing anything; of being an airhead, and at times, Ryo even agreed with him to a certain extent. But at other times, those accusations were wrong – Ryo _did_ notice things, and they were tiny things that everyone else _didn't_ notice. Subtle shifts in Dee's mood, usually betrayed by the tiniest flicker in his expression, went unnoticed by the likes of Drake, Ted and even J.J, all of whom had known him a lot longer than Ryo had.

But Ryo noticed those things.

Although maybe that was because he did tend to stare at the dark haired man quite a lot…

At any rate, he had noticed that Dee had been somewhat irritable today; and perhaps it was understandable that people like J.J wouldn't notice that, because Dee was _always_ irritable when he was around…

But Dee was not usually irritable with Ryo.

_That_, and the fact that Dee was actually doing some proper work over there on his side of the desk. Or… Truthfully, Ryo wasn't sure what he was actually doing – it _looked_ like work, anyway, but he could just as easily be doodling.

It was unlike him, though, to be sitting there in silence with his head down and a pen in his hand instead of perched on the desk on Ryo's side, distracting him with lurid, suggestive remarks. It was true that Dee seemed to enjoy having an audience – and he was deprived of that right now, since Drake, J.J and Ted had already gone home – but it was also true that he seemed to enjoy having Ryo all to himself even _more_, and he hadn't reveled in either of those situations today.

Ryo admitted to not understanding him – it wasn't like he was a deep, secretive person; on the contrary, not only did he know exactly what he wanted, but he knew how to get it and voiced it extremely loudly.

Oh, Ryo knew exactly what Dee wanted.

But these moods… Ryo couldn't understand them. It made him wonder if he had offended Dee, and he would realize that he hadn't because Dee shook off nearly everything that anyone said to him, and that he hadn't done anything wrong anyway.

Dee was used to the pleading, silent "not-quite-rejections-but-close-enough-to-make-him-back-off" responses by now.

And it wasn't like Commissioner Rose had been up to anything recently…

But Ryo had sensed it immediately this morning, from the moment Dee had walked into the office twenty minutes late; his jet black hair, today, slicked back with just a few stray strands falling like lost secrets across his face, and dressed in a dark grey suit, the jacket of which he had not taken off at all today until just now.

Just as he could sense it now, as he gazed still at Dee; the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows and his black tie loose around his unbuttoned collar.

A cigarette in his mouth and a pen in his hand.

With something written all over him that was all so wrong.

"You're… okay, dude?"

"You asked me that already," Dee snapped, not even looking up this time.

Ryo loosened his dark blue tie a little, feeling uncomfortable.

"I did?"

"Yeah."

"And… did you _answer_?"

Dee _did_ look up this time, his dark eyebrows contorted into a scowl; he took the cigarette from his mouth and held it between his fingers, letting the ash fall onto the desk.

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Well…" Ryo took off his glasses, dangling them by one of the arms in his left hand. "If you had given me a satisfactory answer the first time, I wouldn't have asked again, would I?"

Dee's scowl darkened further.

"You know I hate questions, Ryo, so stop pissing me off…"

Ryo scowled too now.

"_You were pissed off when you walked in here this morning, dude_…" he muttered darkly.

Dee heard him. And Dee ignored him.

Ryo sighed deeply, resting his head in one hand, and Dee looked up at him through his long eyelashes, not lifting his head.

"What?" He held up his pen; and _then_ lifted his head. "Come on, man, the one time I actually do some work, and you're _distracting_ me? What the hell is up with that? _You're_ the one always PMS-ing about it…"

"It _is_ nice to see you doing some work," Ryo agreed snippily, "but it only adds to my theory that you really just aren't yourself today… You even hid from J.J instead of smacking him…"

"_Ha_." Dee's gaze was poisonous. "Don't you have anything better to do than watch me all day?"

Ryo blinked at the malice in his voice; and then at the actual words themselves.

Usually, Dee would actually _seek_ Ryo's attention, jumping in his face when he was trying to work and even preening a little when he knew the half-Japanese man was watching him.

"Well…" Ryo tugged at his collar of his blue shirt, not having much of an answer. Oh, he could be a bitch back, but perhaps it wasn't wise to provoke Dee in this mood.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, looking down at the desk.

Perhaps appeasement would work better. He lifted his head a tiny bit to see Dee's reaction and was extremely pissed when he saw that Dee was scribbling away again, not even looking at him.

"_Dee_!" Ryo banged his hand on the desk.

Dee made a very hard stroke with his pen, nearly going through the paper.

"_What_?"

"Well, I apologized, and—"

"For what?" Dee interrupted coolly.

Ryo was floored.

"For…?"

Dee shrugged.

"You didn't do anything. Or, at least, you don't know what you're apologizing _for_." Dee looked up again, his brown eyes meeting Ryo's jet black ones. "That's right, isn't it? You can't think what you've done…"

Ryo paused; then shook his head.

Dee arched an eyebrow.

"You _can_ think what you've done?"

"What? No, I…" Ryo frowned. "I'm not sure whether I should be shaking or nodding my head here, dude…"

"Here's a plan, then." Dee pointed first at Ryo with his pen, and then at the door. "How about you go get us some coffee."

It wasn't a question. Ryo hesitated, then got up wordlessly and went to the door. His fingers on the handle, he paused and looked back over his shoulder.

"Dee…?"

Dee didn't look up, and after a few moments Ryo gave another weary sigh and left the office.

* * *

"Alone, Detective MacLean?"

Ryo started, turning from the coffee machine to his addressor sharply.

Commissioner Berkeley Rose offered him an indulgent, knowing smile, the dull glare from the striplights in the corridor's ceiling glinting off his glasses.

"And this late?" He went on, his voice low. "I believe the rest of the criminal investigations team went home over an hour and half ago…"

Ryo cleared his throat.

"Dee's here too." He pointed upwards. "Upstairs in the office. We're just finishing some paperwork."

Berkeley Rose snorted.

"Detective _Laytner_, actually doing _work_?"

"I'm as surprised as you, sir," Ryo replied, his voice a little sour as he turned back to the machine to retrieve the second coffee. "Admittedly, he really hasn't been himself today…"

"On the other hand," Berkeley mused, looking up at the dirty ceiling, "it would be even _less_ like him to leave you here by yourself." The commissioner gave a little laugh. "It wouldn't do for you to be here alone at _my_ mercy, hmm?"

"Aren't I alone at your mercy right now, sir?"

Berkeley smirked.

"Is that an _invitation_, Ryo?"

Ryo offered him a sour little smirk of his own.

"Hardly, sir." He picked up both coffees and walked past the blonde bespectacled man. "And it's _Randy_."

"Not to your partner," Berkeley said in a low voice as Ryo walked away.

Ryo paused.

"Dee's different," he replied finally; wondering briefly why he was even defending his partner right at this second when he was kind of pissed off at him.

Berkeley chuckled softly.

"Oh, that's _one_ way of putting it… _Randy_." He smiled as Ryo shot him a pissed little look over his shoulder. "Really, Detective MacLean, it's no secret that I'm not Laytner's Number One Fan…"

Ryo nodded jerkily and walked away, leaving Commissioner Rose standing there in the corridor.

"_You don't hate him as much as he hates you, sir_…" he muttered once out of Berkeley's earshot.

Ryo got back to the office and opened the door with his shoulder, one coffee in each hand.

"Dee, I got…"

Ryo trailed off, gazing around the empty office.

Dee was gone.

With an exasperated sigh, Ryo put the coffees down on the desk and went around to Dee's side; knowing he could use Dee's absence to his advantage to see what he had actually been doing for the past hour and a half.

He picked up a few sheets of a report and scanned down them; so Dee _had_ actually been doing work…

Or _not_.

Ryo found himself looking at a sheet of lined paper adorned with a drawing of a rose, done in heavily-shaded black biro.

Dee had been using a black biro; and _there_ was the deep, dark heavy line that Dee had done when Ryo had yelled his name and banged his hand on the desk.

Ryo smiled.

Looking away and scanning across the desk, he noticed Dee's cigarettes partially hidden by a file.

Dee never went anywhere without his cigarettes, that much Ryo knew.

Unless…

Ryo grabbed the packet, suddenly knowing where to go.

* * *

Damn that J.J. And damn, it was cold up here. But more importantly, _damn that wretched J.J_…

Ignoring the noticeable absence of a cigarette in his fingers, Dee ran a hand through his ebony hair, working out the gel so that it fell in its natural side-parting across his face.

Standing on the flat roof of the precinct building, leaning on the wall around the perimeter of it, Dee looked out over the glittering cityscape of New York. It was a city that never slept, and at night seemed to come alive.

Still, he would rather have been looking out over it through the window of the office instead of up here. In November, it was freezing, and he hadn't had time to grab his jacket.

_Not that it would have made much difference_, he mused bitterly as he watched his breath cloud on the cold night air.

He wondered if Ryo had come back yet. Not that he particularly wanted to _see_ him right at that moment, but… he didn't want to _not_ see him, either.

He didn't particularly want to be in a bad mood with the other man, either, but he couldn't help it; Ryo was kind of the reason he wasn't in a very good mood to begin with.

He knew Ryo hadn't meant any harm by it; far from it, in fact – quite the opposite.

But Dee didn't like being treated like Bikky (partly because he didn't like Bikky either…).

And last night had certainly been one of _those_ moments—

"Why are you up here, Dee?"

Dee looked over his shoulder at Ryo, who was shooting him a puzzled look of his own.

Dee looked away again.

"J.J came in, so I ran out."

Ryo blinked.

"Why was J.J still here?"

Dee shrugged.

"Something about police sniping… Who knows? I can't ever understand a word that idiot says anyway…"

Ryo gave a tiny smile and tapped Dee's shoulder again.

"What?"

Ryo held out Dee's jacket.

"Figured you might be cold."

"Thanks, man." Dee took it and shrugged it on; and then he noticed that Ryo was holding out something else.

His cigarettes.

Dee looked from the cigarettes to Ryo and then back again, a bored expression on his face.

"_Those_," he said slowly, pointing at the cigarettes, "are the reason I haven't been in the best of moods with you today, dude."

Ryo smiled.

"I know. I've figured that out now." He sighed. "I'm sorry. And I _do_ know what I'm apologizing for this time."

Dee tutted.

"Ah, don't be sorry. I know you only said it because…"

"Because I care about you." Ryo sighed again and held out the packet. "But… I can understand why it pissed you off. Last night, I mean. I'm sorry I went off on you over it."

Dee frowned.

"Well, in response to your earlier question, I've been doing it for years." He gazed at Ryo fixedly. "You want me to quit."

Again, it wasn't a question.

"You know…" Ryo looked at the floor of the roof. "I think I'm going to regret saying this, because I _do_ wish you would give up, but…"

He held them out again, looking up shyly at the dark-haired man.

"…I like watching you smoke…"

"You _like_ watching me…?"

Ryo gave a little nod.

"Yeah, it's… the way you _do_ it. It's so different from the way Drake does it, or the Chief, or… _anyone_ I've ever seen…"

"If that's how you feel, why did you practically yell at me last night to stop? Jesus, dude, you even scared Bikky. I don't think he'll take it up now, not after that…"

"Well, that was partly the reason. I know you and Bikky don't get on all that well, Dee, but he _does_ copy some of the things you do. I've noticed it. You're quite a lot like him, and—"

"Spare me," Dee interrupted, pulling a face. "If there's anything I hate more than you treating me _like_ that little brat, it's you comparing me _to_ that little brat…"

"Sorry." Ryo offered him a sweet little smile to show he meant it. "For that, and for… well…"

"But you like watching me?"

Ryo gave a guilty little grin.

"Yeah…"

Dee smirked and took the packet.

"Then I guess I shouldn't disappoint you."

He put the packet to his lips and pulled one out with his teeth, then slipped the rest of them into his pocket and withdrew a lighter instead. He tossed it lightly to Ryo, who caught it in surprise.

"Light it for me?" He smiled around the cigarette; it was a question. "I like it when you light it for me…"

Ryo silently flicked on the lighter, the flame dancing in his dark eyes as he held it out towards the end of the cigarette—

The November night wind blew it out. Ryo tutted and looked down at it in irritation

"You'll have to come closer." Dee smirked. "Heaven forbid, huh, dude?"

Again, Ryo offered no vocal answer; he did step closer, cupping his hand around the flame to block the wind. Dee watched the frown of concentration on his face in amusement – Ryo was gazing intently at the flame as it caught the end of the cigarette. He snapped the lighter shut but didn't look up; and again, Dee could see the glow of it reflected in Ryo's jet black eyes.

Dee put his hand to his mouth and took the cigarette between two fingers, drawing deeply on it, noting that Ryo _did_ seem to be watching him with some strange kind of fascination; his expression was a sort of half-smile, his eyes wide.

"What is it you like about it?" Dee murmured, exhaling so that both his breath and the smoke escaped to weave on the cold air.

"I _don't_ like smoking. It's bad for your health." Ryo looked up. "You should stop, but I…"

"…Like watching me anyway." Dee looked at the cigarette. "Why? Why me? What's so different?"

"It's…" Ryo's expression was pained. "…_Everything_. The way you hold it, the way you breathe the smoke, the way you hold it in your mouth… It's different. It makes it _look_ different. I just…"

Ryo scratched his brown hair, looking away.

"It's different. I can't explain why, or why I _like_ it, when… It just _is_. It… it seems okay when _you_ do it." Ryo lowered both his head and his voice. "_Everything seems okay when **you** do it, Dee…_"

Dee smiled, reaching for the Ryo's tie and using it to pull him close.

"_Even this_?" He whispered, pressing his lips to the half-Japanese man's.

Ryo did not fight the kiss; not once could Dee ever remember him protesting – at least, not until _after_ it was over. Ryo was a fighter in so many ways – but _this_…

_This_ wasn't one of them.

Never _had_ been.

Maybe it was the taste of the tobacco or coffee (sometimes both); maybe it was because Dee was always so forceful; or maybe it was because somewhere in him, Ryo realized that he felt so much more for his partner than he had ever said thus far…

Maybe all three; it hardly mattered. The point was that Ryo could fight his way out of _Hell_, but he couldn't fight his way out of Dee's embrace.

So he _didn't_.

Ryo smiled on pulling back, watching Dee lick his lips before putting the cigarette to them again.

"_Even that_," was the light haired man's whispered, belated reply. He pushed Dee's ebony hair aside and pressed his forehead to his.

Dee held out the cigarette, watching the rising smoke dancing; weaving like whispers on the icy New York night air.

"What do you see?" He asked softly of Ryo, nodding towards the smoke. "Sometimes, when I'm on my own, I try to see things in it…"

"Like what?"

Dee shrugged.

"Depends. Shapes, animals, people… Doesn't always work…"

Ryo studied the smoke for a while; then slipped his hand to the back pocket of his pants and pulled out a folded sheet of lined paper. Unfolding it, he smiled in the glow of Dee's cigarette.

"Roses," he whispered. "I see roses."

Dee grinned, taking the paper to look at his rose again.

"And you thought I was doing _work_ back there…"

"I didn't know you drew."

"I don't."

Dee pressed his cigarette into the middle of the paper, holding it by the corner as they both watched a bright orange circle expanding from the center of the rose and wiping away its existence. He let it go as the last of it turned to black crumbling ash and was swept away by the winter wind.

Dee gave a little laugh.

"Thought I'd turned over a new leaf today, huh, dude?" He smirked. "Come on, you know I've been on a total "Can't Work, Won't Work" policy since, like, _forever_…"

Ryo smiled.

"Yeah." He wrapped his arms around Dee's chest and embraced him tightly. "And I guess, no matter how much I "PMS" to you over it, I like you just the way you are…"

"Smoking and all?"

Ryo sighed and looked up at him.

"As long as you stop doing it in front of Bikky… If it makes you happy, I don't mind…"

Dee smiled and crushed the cigarette, throwing it aside onto the surface of the roof; and his arms went around Ryo's shoulders as he rested his head on top of that crown of soft chestnut hair.

"The only thing that makes me happy, Ryo… is _you_…"

FIN

* * *

Rarg, I just managed to glamorize smoking… Ironic, when I have _never_ smoked _anything_ myself.

Okay, well, it _is_ bad for you, so don't do it, basically.

Also, I admit to it being a little sappy. Not really intentional, but when you take the guns, homicide and drug rings out of _FAKE_, you aren't left with very much _but_ this kind of thing. It might be a comic about male NYC cops, but it's a girlie manga if ever I saw one…

Uh, well, I kind of intended it to be more from Dee's P.O.V than Ryo's when I started writing, but somehow it focused more on Ryo anyhow… I'm not quite sure how that happened… And ironically I am not a huge fan of Ryo, either. I mean, he's okay, but he just seems kind of bland to me compared to some of the more animated characters like Dee, Bikky and J.J…

Berkeley Rose kind of turned up in there himself – I didn't intend to include him, but suddenly, there he was, writing himself in, almost… And I know it was kinda unprofessional to call him "Berkeley" in the narrative. I did start out calling him "Rose", but then I changed it because of the "rose theme"… I do like him though – a thoroughly amusing character…

Also, yeah, if the name "Robin" shows up anywhere up there… I'm totally sorry! I did accidentally write "Robin" instead of "Ryo" at one point and only caught it when I read back over the whole thing to check it all made sense. Which, with the inclusion of "Robin", it didn't, so… Yeah, it was the "R" that got me.

Although…. DeexRobin – an interesting combination… O.o

Anyway, time to take my leave of this section. Buh-bye! ;)

RobinRocks xXx


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